Rotary fluid pressure engine



Aug. 19, 1941. W, F WIT-HCH 2,253,005

ROTARY FLUID PRESSURE ENGINE Filed June l0, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 imm 'INVENTOR. WML/,4M F. Vl//T/CH Aug. 19, 1941. w, F W|TT|CH 2,253,005

ROTARY FLUID PRESSURE ENGINE Filed June l0, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTOR. l/V/LL/AM E l/V/T/cf/ line 2-2,V Figure 1;

Figure 3 isa. top plan view of one power ele--` I Patented Aug. 19, 1941UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ROTARY FLUm PRESSURE ENGINE t William F.Wittich, Denver, Colo. Application .nine 1o, 1940, serIaI No. 339,745 1cIaIm. (cI.' 253-i9) This invention relates to improvements in rotaryengines of the type operated by fluid under pressure.

It has long been recognizedthat the ordinaryy Figure 5.is an endelevation of the engine shown in Figure 6 looking in the direction ofarrow 5;

parts as well as free from valves corresponding to the ordinary slidevalves in steam engines.

It is Well understood that the potentialA energy containedin steam orother gas under pressure can be 4made vavailable for practical useeither by allowing the same to expand in a piston containing a movablecylinder in which case the gas expands adiabatically and imparts amoving force to the piston which isv the product of the pressurel andthe number of square inches of the piston.

It is also well known that the potential energy contained in any gasunder pressure'can be converted into useful work by rst converting theenergyinto velocity by permitting the gas to escape through a nozzle andthen directing the nozzle onto vanes in `suitably constructed rotors.

It vis the object of this invention to produce a rotary engine of a verysimple 4construction in which the power is derived from the momen- `tumof gas moving under high velocities and which engine shall be, entirelyfree from re-v p may be readily understood, reference will now be had tothe accompanying drawings in which one embodiment thereof has beenillustrated, and in which: I i

Figure 1 is a side elevation of an engine, looking in the direction ofarrow I, Figure 2, portions being broken away to better disclose theconstruction; V Figure 2 is` a'diam'etrcal section taken on ment of `theengine shownv in Figure 5, the hollow supports `being shown in sectiontaken on line 3--3,Figure `5;

Figure 41s a vside elevation `fied form of the invention;

ofI a slightly modi- Figure' is a side elevation of the engine shown inFigure 5 looking in the direction of arrow 6;

Figure '7 is a diagrammatic view partly inv elevation and partly insection showing the engine connected to a gas generating mechanism bymeans of which the required gas Is produced under apredetermined'pressure; and

Figure 8 is a diagrammatic View showing the engineconnected with asteamboiler, condenser and feed water pump.

In the drawings reference numeral lli'designates a pipe on which thestator II is nonrotatably supported. It will be observed that the pipeI0, which may be referred to hereinafter as a 'tubular shaft, isprovided with a transverse partition I2 that divides the interiorthereof into two parts. l

Referring now more particularly to Figure 3, it will be observed thatthe pipe I0 extends through the two tubular supports I3 and that it isprovided with openings I4 which oifer communication between the tubularsupports and the interiorvof the shaft. In Figures 1 and 2, the powerunit has been shown disas'sociated from the supports and comprises inaddition'to the statorp'a rotonwhose outer cylindrical wall has beendesignated by reference numeral I5. 'I'he rotor is cup rshaped and has awall I6 that is integral with the side I5 and projecting from the outersurface of this wall are two annular iianges, one of which has been`designated by reference numeral II and the other by reference numeralI8. Flange II is provided on its outer surface with a V-shaped groove I9for cooperation with a V-type endless belt by means of which power istransmitted and which' has been designated by reference numeral 20 inFigure 6. The open end of the rotor is closed by means-of a removablecover 2l whichis heldin place by tap screws 22. The outer surface o fthe Ycover hasan 'outwardly extending cylindrical flange 23corresponding in size and position to flange I8 on member I6. Positionedin the annular recess between the flanges I8 and 23 and thecorresponding outer surface'of members I6 and 2I are ball bearings whoseinner ball races have been designated by reference numeral andwhoseouter ball races have been designated by reference numerals 25. Theouter surfaces of flanges I8 and 23 are threaded for the reception ofVthe caps 26` that form themovable portions of` stuffing boxes.

outer endsof flanges I8 and 23 and serve as the inner abutments for thepackingmaterial 28.

` Washers 21 having inwardly tapered outer surfaces are positionedagainst the aacaoos theinner surface oflthe rotor and the outer sur- Kface of the stator arevspaced a short distancel apart and in thepreferred form the inner surface of the rotor is provided withlongitudinally extending corrugations which have been designated byreference numeral 29.

In the embodiment illustrated, the stator has been shown as formed froma single piece of metal which may be a casting and for this pur`v poseordinary cast iron may lbe employed. The

stator has a hub 30 that is splined to the shaft I0 or held againstrotation by other means such as by set screws 3I. The surface of thestator opposite from the hub and to the left when viewed as in Figure 2is provided with a circular recess 32, which is transformed into anannular chamber by the introduction of `the tubular shaft. The wail ofthe stator between the outer boundary of the annular recess and theperiphery of the stator is provided with a plurality of curved passages33. The annular recess andthe curved passages have their open sidesclosed by means of a cover 34 which is held in place by means of tapscrews 35. The wall of the shaft I0 is provided with a plurality oflongitudinally extending openings 36 that form communicating passagesbetween the interior of the shaft and the annular chamber 32. The wallof shaft I0 is also provided with a plurality of openings, 31 thatprovide passageways between the interior of the rotor and that portionof the opening in shaft I0 which is shown to the right of partition I2in Figure 2.

Let us now assume that the. interior of the shaft or pipe I0 isconnected with a source 'of steam or other gas under high pressure. The

fluid will iiow through the opening in the shaft, I'

thence through the openings 36 into the annular recess 32 from whence itwill pass through the curved passages 33 and emerge from these open-lings at a high velocity. The gas thus escaping will strike. thecorrugated inner surface of the rotor and produce a torque tending toturn the same'in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig-l ure 1. Sincethe vpotential energy contained in the steam or gas has been convertedinto kinetic energy by its iiow through the curved passages 33, thisenergy will, in turn be converted into a torque tending to rotate therotoras above described. Since there are a large number of pas-` sages33, the total of the torque thus produced will be the sum of the torqueforces produced by each of the separate Istreams of gas. After the gashas escaped from the passages 33 and had its velocity reduced'tosubstantially zero, it

will pass into the space to the right of the stator,

when viewed as in Figure 2, and will passlfrom thence through theopenings 31 and escape through the hollow. shaft.

At this point attention is called to the fact that the rotor and thestator can be respectively made the stator and the rotor as the engineis revers-` ible in this sense. The reason the tubular pipe or shaftII'I has been shown as stationary instead the high pressure gas.

of rotary is that by having this member stationary, a gastight seal canbe more readily eifected between the tubular supports I3 which containWith the arrangement illustrated and described, the only pressure to beguarded against is the greatly reduced pressure after the gases haveexpanded their energy and this simplifies the construction. On. the

other hand. if the member that is now shown as a stator is made to`rotate and the present rotor is held against rotation, a slightlygreater amount of power mightbe abstracted from the gas due to the factthat in changing its direction while passing through the curvedpassages, the amount of energy necessary to effect this change would beconverted into useful work, whereas, in the present embodiment' anyforces due to this change of direction are resisted by the stationarymaterial. l

Since each one of the power units are complete v in the form shown inFigure 1 they can be employed singly or in multiple as occasionrequires..

hausting, escaping through the pipe designated` by reference numeral 4I.Where several units are combined in one engine, they can beinterconnected by means of a belt as shown in Figure 5 and the power canbe taken off from the last power unit by means of a belt 42. Where morethan two power units are to be'connected in series in the manner shownin Figure 6, it is necessary to provide the cover 2l with a groovedpulley similar to that indicated by reference numeral I 1 or the lattermay have two Ibelt grooves instead of one.

In Figure 4 an embodiment has been illustrated in which the tubularsupports I3 have been replaced by a hollow circular member 43 havingdiametrical hollow spokes 44. 'Ihe steam is ad' mitted to one Aof thesehollow members` through `the pipe 45 and since the hollow member 43corresponds in every particular except shape to the tubular support I3,the steam or gas will yflow through the several power units in themanner above explained.

Continuing the description of Figure 4, it will be seen ythat in thisembodiment eightpower units have been arranged in a' circle and anotherpower unit has been positioned at the center. In the embodimentillustrated, the centrally positioned power unit has beeny illustratedas larger than the others, but this is not essential, but it mustnecessarily be larger morder to Acontact a large number of enclosingunits. 'I'he outer peripheries of the several power units are providedwith leather friction surfaces 46 and the power generated by the outerrow of units will therefore be transmitted tothe periphery of the,center in Figure 4 is also'- adapted for use in connection with motorvehicles or other places where space must be concerned. It is alsoevident that a number of -units like the one shown in Figure 4 can beplaced side -by side in the direction of the axis of the center powerunit and in this lway a very large number of these power units can befitted into a comparatively small space.

Since this engine is designed more particularly to operate from a fluidsuch as gas or steam under a constant pressure and since it is desirableto be able to operate it either vwith gas or with steam, two alternativeconstructions have been illustrated in Figures 7 and 8.

Referring now to Figure 8, reference 'numeral 48 designates an ordinarysteam boiler whose reference numeral 49 designates a gas burner which isrepresentative of any suitable heating means. The steam dome has beendesignated by reference numeral 50 and from this a pipe 5| extends toand connects with the pipe 39 that projects from the vertical tubularmember I3. After the steam has passed through the engine, it isexhausted through the pipe 4| and into a condenser 52. The condensedsteam flows from thence to a boiler feed pump 53 that is operated by asteam engine 54. Steam for the pump is provided through the pipe 55 andthe condensed water is returned to the boiler through pipe 56. When aproper condenser is provided, it is evident that the water can be usedover and over again as the steam, after it has delivered its power tothe engine, is condensed and returned to the boiler. Such an arrangementof parts can easily be adapted for: automotive ve` hicles or smallboats, as well as to power plants where large amounts of power are to begenerated and used.

It may frequently be desirable to employ gases of combustion instead ofsteam for operating the engine and when this is the case, the necessarygas under the desired pressure can be obtained by means illustrated inFigure 7. In Figure 7 reference numeral 51 designates a steel tank thatis enclosed in a heavy layer of heat insulating material 58. This tankcorresponds to the boiler shown in Figure 8 and may be provided with apressure gauge 59 to indicate the pressure there- In order to generategases of combustion under the desired pressure, the following mechanismis employed. A fuel burner comprising a l nozzle 66 and a tubular shield6|, through which air for combustion enters, are positioned incommunication with the interior of the tank and fuel for the nozzle 60is provided `from a fuel tank 62- which is connected with the nozzle 60through a fuel pump 63 that has been shown as of the reciprocating typeand provided with a piston 64. The piston is reciprocated by means of arotatable eccentric 65 which is driven by a motor 66. A by-passconnecting the intake and the exhaust ports of the pump has beendesignated by reference numeral 61. Thisby-pass contains a relief valve68. The function of the by-pass is j to permit the pump to operate at apredetermined capacity' regardless ofthe amount of fuel being isprovided by an air pump 10 whose piston 1| is reciprocated by theeccentric 65. A spark gap 12 is adjacent to the discharge of the burnerand this is maintained in continuous operation by means of high tensioncurrent from a transformer 13. In the present embodiment current for thetransformer has been shown as provided by a battery 14 and where directcurrent is used an interrupter 15 is introduced into the circuit. Aswitch 16 controls the operation of the spark. Steam is introducedthrough a pipe 11 that is connected with a suitable steam generator. Theamount of steam introduced varies with the conditions necessary for themost efficient operation. By the means just described, gases ofcombustion can be generated at any desired pressure and these are thentransmitted to the engine through the pipe 39 in the same manner asshown and described in connection with Figure 8.

From the above description it will be apparent that the engine whichforms the subject matter `of this invention is of extremely simpleconstruction, that it has no reciprocating parts, and that it has norelatively rotatable parts that must be sealed against the escape ofhigh pres- I sure gas and consequently there is a very small or oil fuelis used. The air for the combustion amount of friction to be overcome inthe engine itself. The several units can be combined in any numbers andin various ways to obtain the total amount of power that may benecessary for the results desired. By combining the power elements inthe manner shown in Figure 4, a great concentration of power can beobtained thereby making the engine suitable for automotive vehicles orfor small pleasure boats.

Attention has already been called to the fact that this motor isreversible and that the element which is referred to herein as thestator can be employed as a rotator with corresponding changes in theconstruction and that applicant therefore considers his invention asembodying` not only the specific construction shown and described butalso any obvious variations thereof which involve merely the carryingforward of the ideas herein described or the substitution of mechanicalequivalents.

Having described the invention what is claimed as new is:

A rotary expansible iluid engine comprising,

in combination, a base having two spaced supports, a tubular shaftextending between the supports with its ends nonrotatably mounted in thesupports, the shaft having a partition dividing its interior into twosections, the Wall of the shaft having openings on opposite sides of thepartition, a cylindrical stator nonrotatably attached to the shaft, oneside of the stator having a.v plurality of outwardly radiating curvedpassages whose inner ends are in communication with one section oftheshaft opening, a removable plate secured to the stator forming aclosure Wall for one edge of the curved passages, a cylindrical rotorhousing rotatab1y mounted on the shaft and enclosing the stator, theinner surface of the cylindrical wall of the housing being spaced fromthe outer cylindrical wall of the stator and roughened, the rotatablehousing having one side removable, and means carried by the housing forcooperating with a belt, the space between the stator and the inside ofthe rotatable housing being in communication with the interior of theothersection of the opening in the shaft which serves as a fluidexhaust.

WILLIAM F. WITTICI-l.

